Marketing Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ Macro-environment - the major uncontrollable, external forces (economic, demographic, technological, natural, social and cultural, legal and political) which influence a firm's decision making and have an impact upon its performance. Macromarketing - the study of marketing decision-making from a societal perspective. See Micromarketing. Macromodel - a descriptive model, designed to communicate, explain or predict some real system or process, in which there is a dependent variable and a relatively small number of independent, determinant variables. See Model; Microanalytical Model. Macrosegmentation - the division of a market into broadly defined groups, each with its particular needs and wants, prior to further division or segmentation on the basis of more narrowly defined needs and wants. See Market Segmentation; Microsegmentation. Mail Order House - a retailing organisation which uses catalogues rather than a sales force to promote its goods to customers; also called a Catalogue Retailer. Mail Order Selling - a system of retailing in which customers order merchandise, usually from a catalogue, by mail; the goods are shipped direct to the customer's home. Mail Order Wholesalers - wholesalers who use catalogues to sell to retailers too small for full-service wholesalers to serve profitably in the normal way. Mail Surveys - a relatively inexpensive method of obtaining data in a marketing research study; mail surveys keep interviewer bias to a minimum, but they require considerable time to conduct and response rates are generally low. Maintenance Marketing - marketing activity intended to maintain the current sales level in a highly competitive situation. Maintenance Selling - generating sales volume from existing customers. Maintenance Strategy - a planning or decision-making tactic appropriate for an organisation when growth opportunities are low but the firm is in a relatively strong position in the market; a maintenance strategy implies that the firm will continue to invest in the business, in a limited way, to maintain the current volume of business. Major Equipment - long-lived business assets that must be depreciated over time; capital items. Majority Fallacy - the erroneous belief that the biggest segment of a market will be the most profitable one for a firm to enter; competition will usually be keenest in the biggest segment. See Market Segmentation. Make or Buy Decision - a choice sometimes faced by a manufacturing company when considering the acquisition of a new product - to lease or purchase a product or to manufacture it internally. Mall Intercept - a type of marketing research interview; typically, respondents are chosen in shopping centres. MAN - acronym used in selling for qualifying new prospects. Does the prospect have the Money to pay? Does the prospect have the Authority to buy? Does the prospect have a Need for the product? Also referred to as PAN - Pay, Authority, Need. Management by Objectives - an evaluation and control system in which individual salespeople set goals and objectives for themselves that are acceptable to management; progress towards these goals and objectives is reviewed periodically. Managerial Judgement - a forecasting method in which predictions about the likely level of sales for a specified future period are made by experienced senior managers. Manchester Man - an old term for a salesperson, originally used in reference to salespeople hired by textile firms in Manchester, England, in the late eighteenth century to sell the goods produced by the developing factory system. Manipulative Selling Techniques - selling practices in which the salesperson attempts to overwhelm the prospective buyer; high-pressure methods. See Non-Manipulative Techniques. Manufacturer's Brand - a brand owned or controlled by an organisation the primary commitment of which is to production rather than distribution; also called a National Brand. See Distributor's Brand; Private Brand. Manufacturers' Agent - an agent or representative used by manufacturers to supplement or even replace their own sales staff. See Outside Sales Facilities. Manufacturers' Representative - see Manufacturers' Agent. Marginal Analysis - the determination of the change in total revenue and total cost that results from the sale of one more unit. Marginal Cost - the change in total cost that results from producing an additional unit. Marginal Profit - the change in the total profit that results from the sale of an additional unit. Marginal Revenue - the change in total revenue that results from selling an additional unit. Marital Status - whether an individual is married, single, divorced or widowed; an important variable in demographic segmentation. See Demographic Characteristics. Mark-Down - if a firm reduces an item to sell it at below its original retail price, the difference between the original price and the reduced price is called the mark-down. Mark-Down Ratio - the difference between the original selling price of an article and the price to which it is reduced in order to sell it, expressed as a percentage of the reduced price; that is, if a firm sells an article originally priced at $20 for a reduced price of $15, the mark-down is $5 and the mark-down ration is 33.3 per cent, $5 being one third of $15. Mark-Up - the amount added by a wholesaler or retailer to the cost of a product to determine the selling price to the customer. Mark-Up Ratio - the difference between the buying price of an article and its selling price, normally expressed as a percentage of the selling price; that is, if a firm buys a product at $72 and sells it for $90, the mark-up is $18, and the mark-up ratio is 20 per cent, $18 being one-fifth of $90. Market - all the buyers and potential buyers of a product who profess some level of interest in it and who can afford it. Market Accessibility - see Accessibility. Market Allocation System - see Free Market System; Capitalist System. Market Atomisation Strategy - see Complete Segmentation; Custom Marketing. Market Attractiveness - the degree to which a market offers opportunities to an organisation, taking into account the market size and growth rate and the level of competition and other constraints. Market Broadening - a strategy in which a company looks beyond its existing product to the need or want of the consumers which buy it; thus a company which makes soap powder, knowing that what its consumers want is whiter clothes, might expand its operations to make a bleach. Market Challenger - a company holding a major market share and competing vigorously with the market leader for outright leadership. See Market Follower; Market Leader; Market Nicher. Market Development - a strategy by which a company seeks growth by taking its existing products into new markets. Market Diversification - a strategy in which a company seeks growth by adding products and markets of a kind unrelated to its existing products and markets. Market Driven Economy - an economy controlled by market forces rather than by government action. Market Dynamics - changes that occur within the market, but external to a company which influence its decision-making and impact upon its performance. Market Entry Barrier - any circumstance or feature of a market which inhibits or deters a firm from entering it; the greatest market entry barrier is the presence of a firmly entrenched competitor with a significant competitive advantage. Market Expansion - a growth strategy in which an organisation targets existing products to new markets; market development by targeting new geographic markets, new demographic or psychographic segments, or totally new users. Market Factor - any external variable affecting the level of a company's sales. Market Follower - a company content to maintain its existing market share behind an established market leader. See Market Challenger; Market Leader; Market Nicher. Market Forecast - the anticipated sales for a market as a whole during a given period, taking into account prevailing environmental circumstances. Market Growth Rate - the rate, commonly expressed as a percentage per annum, at which a market is increasing in size. Market Growth-Market Share Matrix Market Index - a combination of market factors used to predict the likely level of sales. Market Leader - the company whose products hold the largest market share. See Market Challenger; Market Follower; Market Nicher. Market Minimum - the level of sales that a firm can expect to achieve in a market without promotional effort of any kind. Market Niche - a small but profitable segment of a market unlikely to attract competitors. Market Nicher - a company whose products serve segments too small to be of interest to firms with larger shares of the market; also called market specialists, threshold firms or foothold firms. See Market Challenger; Market Follower; Market Leader. Market Opportunity - a newly identified market or product gap within a market which a company can exploit. Market Opportunity Evaluation - the matching of an identified market opportunity to an organisation's objectives and resources. Market Penetration - a growth strategy in which a company concentrates its efforts on its target market in order to attract a higher percentage of users of its product. Market Penetration Pricing - an approach to pricing in which a manufacturer sets a relatively low price for a product in the introductory stage of its life cycle with the intention of building market share. See Market Skimming Pricing. Market Positioning - marketing activity intended to place a product into a desired position in a market and to have it perceived in that way by consumers. See Real Positioning; Repositioning. Market Potential - the size or value in dollars of a total market should all those who profess a level of interest in a product, and can afford to buy, purchase it. Market Research - the systematic gathering of information about a market by means of survey, observation or experimentation. See Marketing Research. Market Segment - a group or sector within a heterogeneous market consisting of consumers or organisations with relatively homogeneous needs and wants; those within a market who will respond to a given set of marketing stimuli in a particular way. See Market Segmentation. Market Segment Expansion Strategy - one of four possible market segmentation approaches (with concentrated segmentation strategy, product line expansion strategy and differentiated segmentation strategy) available to a firm in relation to the segment or segments it wishes to target; in a market segment expansion approach a firm targets one product to several segments of the market, thus expanding the market for one product. See Segmentation Strategies; Concentrated Segmentation Strategy; Product Line Expansion Strategy; Differentiated Segmentation Strategy. Market Segmentation - the division of a totally heterogeneous market into groups or sectors with relatively homogeneous needs and wants. Market Segmentation Organisation - the organisation of a firm's marketing activities so that a separate division is responsible for each of its major market segments. See Organisational Structure. Market Share - a company's sales expressed as a percentage of the sales for the total industry. Market Share Protection Strategy - marketing decisions and actions taken by a firm to protect its current market share from competitors. Market Skimming Pricing - a pricing approach in which the producer sets a high introductory price to attract buyers with a strong desire for the product and the resources to buy it, and then gradually reduces the price to attract the next and subsequent layers of the market. See Market Penetration Pricing. Market Specialist - see Market Nicher. Market Testing - introducing a new product and marketing program into a market on a limited basis in order to test both before a full launch. See New Product Development. Market-Based Marketing Organisation - a marketing structure of an organisation in which staff specialists have responsibility for particular markets (rather than for particular products of the organisation); an appropriate structure when the needs of each market served by the firm differ widely. See Market Segmentation Organisation; Product-Based Marketing Organisation. Marketing - the systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products. Marketing Advantage - the competitive edge that can be gained by more accurately identifying customer needs and wants and by developing products which deliver superior satisfactions, or by being more effective and efficient in positioning, promotion or distribution. See Cost Advantage. Marketing Analysis - see Marketing Audit. Marketing Audit - the periodic, orderly, objective review, analysis and evaluation of an organisation's marketing structure, goals, strategies, action plans, performance and results. Marketing Budget - the amount allocated for expenditure on marketing activities in a specified period. Marketing Channels - the path or route taken by goods and services as they move from producer to final consumer; in addition to the goods and services themselves, title, information, promotion and payment also move along the marketing channels carry. Also called Channels of Distribution. See Channel Flows; Marketing Intermediaries. Marketing Communications - the formal and informal messages that sellers transmit to buyers; the systematic (planned) as well as the unsystematic (unplanned) promotion by a firm of its products to its markets. Marketing Concept - a business orientation or philosophy that holds that organisational success is dependent upon the efficient identification of the needs and wants of target markets and the effective satisfaction of them. Marketing Consultants - independent marketing specialists hired by companies, usually on a short-term contract basis, to advise on a wide range of marketing matters, including marketing planning and management, marketing research, marketing communications, etc. See Marketing Intermediaries. Marketing Control - activities involved in checking that marketing action plans are producing the desired results, and the taking of corrective action if they are not. Marketing Controller - an individual, usually with training in finance and marketing, responsible for analysing and evaluating a company's marketing expenditures. Marketing Cost Analysis - a tool used in marketing planning in which the costs associated with selling, billing, warehousing, promoting and distributing of certain products or product groups, or to certain customers or customer groups, are examined to assess their profitability. Marketing Database - data brought into an organisation through marketing research projects or a marketing information system and used as an aid to decision making. See Database Marketing. Marketing Department - a division within a company with responsibility for the planning and co-ordination of all marketing activities. Marketing Department Marketing - a term used to refer to the orientation of an organisation which has established a separate department to look after its marketing activities but which is not totally imbued with the marketing philosophy. Marketing Environment - the internal and external influences which affect marketing decision-making and have an impact on its performance. See Macro-environment; Micro-environment. Marketing Era - the period following the end of the Second World War which saw the emergence of the marketing concept as the prevailing trend in business. Marketing Ethics - the standards or moral principles governing the marketing profession. Marketing Expense-To-Sales Ratio - a marketing control measure used to determine whether the cost of the marketing activities engaged in to produce the level of sales in a given period was excessive; total marketing expenses are expressed as a percentage of total sales revenue. Marketing Implementation - the activities involved in putting marketing strategies into action in order to achieve marketing objectives. See Marketing Management. Marketing Information System - an organisational section or entity whose purpose is to gather, organise, store, retrieve and analyse data relevant to a firm's past, present and future operations on an on-going basis in order provide support for management's marketing decisions; its four major components are an internal records bank (internally generated marketing information); a marketing intelligence bank (information from external sources); an analytical bank (statistical techniques and mathematical models); and an "ad hoc" marketing research bank (research into non-recurring problems). Marketing Intelligence - information gathered from sources external to the firm for use in decision-making. See Marketing In formation System. Marketing Intermediaries - independent firms which assist in the flow of goods and services from producers to end-users; they include agents, wholesalers and retailers; marketing services agencies; physical distribution companies; and financial institutions. Also referred to as Middlemen. See Marketing Channels. Marketing Management - the analysis, planning, organisation, implementation and control of the marketing activities of the firm. Marketing Mix - the major controllable variables - product, price, promotion and place (distribution) - that the firm blends to produce the desired market response; also called the Four Ps. Marketing Models - computer based simulations of realistic marketing situations which allow alternative decisions to be tested for optimum results. Marketing Myopia - an influential article by U.S. academic, Theodore Levitt, published in Harvard Business Review in 1960; Levitt described the failure of management to define adequately the scope of their business as "marketing myopia". Marketing Myopia - short-sightedness in marketing; a failure by a firm to define its mission broadly enough result in the over-emphasis of product and the under-emphasis of customer needs and wants. Marketing Objectives - specific, measurable aims or expected outcomes of marketing activity to be achieved in a given period. Marketing Opportunities - circumstances in the external environment which offer an organisation the chance to satisfy particular consumer needs and wants at a profit. Marketing Opportunity Analysis - the systematic examination and evaluation of the firm's external environment in order to identify market needs and wants which it can satisfy profitably. Marketing Organisation - the structure of the marketing function within the organisation; the two most commonly used approaches to organising the marketing effort are a product-based organisation and a market-based organisation. See Market-Based Marketing Organisation; Product-Based Marketing Organisation. Marketing Orientation - see Marketing Concept. Marketing Performance Assessment - see Marketing Audit. Marketing Plan - a detailed, written account and timetable of the objectives, methods to be used by a firm to achieve its marketing goals. Marketing Planning Process - a systematic approach to the achievement of marketing goals. Steps in the process include situation analysis; setting of objectives; strategy formulation; development of action programs; implementation; and control, review and evaluation. Marketing Program - the combination of all of an organisation's marketing plans. Marketing Research - a formal, planned approach to the collection, analysis, interpretation and reporting of information required for marketing decision-making. Marketing Research Brief - a document prepared by a company for an independent market researcher which provides background and sets one what it requires - objectives, budget, terms, timing, etc. Marketing Research Objectives - the aims or purpose of a marketing research study; objectives are often a expressed as hypotheses to be tested. Marketing Research-To-Sales Ratio - a marketing control measure used to determine whether the amount spent on marketing research in a given period was excessive in relation to its sales; total marketing research expenditure is expressed as a percentage of total sales revenue. Marketing Services - services which are produced or purchased by a marketing organisation for use in the production, pricing, promotion and distribution of products which they themselves market. Services commonly produced or purchased by organisations for use by their own marketing departments include market research, advertising and promotion. Marketing Services Agencies - independent companies providing assistance to firms in getting products to their target markets; they include marketing research agencies, advertising agencies, sales promotions specialists, marketing consultants, etc. Marketing Strategy - the determination of a firm's objectives, the selection of its target markets, the development of an appropriate marketing mix for each, and the allocation of the resources necessary to achieve its goals.. Marketing Synergy - the principle in marketing that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts; putting the marketing mix variables together in a way that achieves maximum effect. Marketing-Oriented Company - one which subscribes to the philosophy that to survive and prosper it must satisfy the needs and wants of its target markets more effectively and efficiently than its competitors. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - a theory propounded in 1954 by Abraham Maslow, a U.S. psychologist, who hypothesised that some innate human needs are more pressing than others, and must be satisfied before any less pressing ones can be attended to. He arranged human needs into five categories in ascending order - Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Belongingness and Love Needs, Esteem Needs and Self-Actualisation Needs. Maslow's Theory of Motivation - the theory that human needs are hierarchical in nature and that a person must satisfy lower-order needs before higher-order needs can be attended to; thus, when a lower-order need is satisfied it ceases to be a motivator. See Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; Freudian Motivation Theory; Herzberg's Theory of Motivation. Mass Marketing - a marketing philosophy in which the seller views the market as a homogeneous whole, and, therefore, has only one marketing program (the same product, the same price, the same promotion and the same distribution system) for everyone; also referred to as Unsegmented Marketing or Undifferentiated Marketing. See Differentiated Marketing; Product-Differentiated Marketing; Target Marketing. Mass Media Advertising - advertising in a non-selective way by means of the popular media in order to reach the widest possible audience. Material Management - a relatively recent organisational trend in purchasing in which some companies combine several functions - purchasing, inventory control, production scheduling, traffic, and the like - into one high-level function under the control of a materials manager. Materials Handling - the activities involved in the physical handling and moving of inventory. Mathematical Forecasting Techniques - mathematically stated relationships or models used to derive forecasts from historical data. Maturity Stage of Product Life Cycle - the third stage (after introduction and growth) in the life of a typical product; in maturity, the product is well-known, has some loyal customers and strong competition. See Product Life Cycle; Introductory Stage; Growth Stage; Decline Stage. MBO - abbrev. Management by Objectives MCA - abbrev. Media Council of Australia McKinsey 7-S Framework - a framework or model, developed by the McKinsey Company, a leading consulting firm, for maximising success of the implementation of an organisation's strategic planning; according to the McKinsey experts, companies which are excellently managed have seven elements in common strategy, structure and systems (the three "hardware" elements of success) and style, skills, staffing and shared values (the four "software" elements of success.) Me-Too Competitive Strategy - see Follow-the-Leader Strategy; Breakthrough Opportunities. Me-Too Products - risk-avoiding products which are not significantly different from those of competitors. See Breakthrough Opportunities. Measurability - one of the four major requirements (with actionability, accessibility and substantiality) for useful market segmentation; Measurability, sometimes referred to as Identifiability, expresses the notion that the size and purchasing power of the segment must be able to be measured. See Accessibility; Actionability; Substantiality. Media Council of Australia - a body which represents the interests of advertisers, advertising agencies and the media. Media Evaluation - the assessment of the effectiveness of a particular media vehicle. Media Mix - the combination of media types used to carry the advertiser's message. Media Plan - a blueprint for a firm's advertising, giving details of the media mix, the specific media vehicles and the media schedule. Media Schedule - a plan which outlines when and how often a company will advertise. Media Vehicle - a specific medium for the transmission of an advertiser's message. Megamarketing - a term coined by U.S. marketing academic, Philip Kotler, to describe the type of marketing activity required when it is necessary to manage elements of the firm's external environment (governments, the media, pressure groups, etc) as well as the marketing variables; Kotler suggests that two more Ps must be added to the marketing mix - public relations and power. Megatrend - a major movement, pattern or trend emerging in the macroenvironment; an emerging force likely to have a significant impact on the kinds of products consumers will wish to buy in the foreseeable future. Megatrends evident today include a growing interest in health, leisure, lifestyle and environmental issues. Membership Group - a reference group to which an individual belongs. See Aspirational Group; Dissociative Group. Memorised Presentations - rote-learned presentations of their products to buyers by salespeople; also called Canned Presentations. See Stimulus-Response Approach. Mental-States Approach - see Formula Approach. Merchandise Allowance - a trade sales promotion in which manufacturers offer payments or a quantity of free merchandise to buyers for in-store promotion of their products. Merchandisers - retail stores which sell finished, non-food items; four types of merchandisers (categorised on the basis of service, price and product line) can be identified: specialty stores (full-service, high-price, limited product line); department stores; mass merchandisers; and discount stores (limited-service, low-price, wide product line). Merchandising Conglomerates - see Multi-Channel Marketing System. Merchant - _an independent marketing intermediary. Merchant Wholesaler - an independent marketing middleman buying and taking title to goods and reselling them to retailers or industrial users. See Full Service Wholesaler; Limited-Service Wholesaler. Microanalytical Model - a descriptive model, designed to communicate, explain or predict some real system or process, in which there is a dependent variable and a relatively large number of independent, determinant variables. See Model; Macromodel. Micro-environment - the factors or elements in a firm's immediate environment which affect its performance and decision-making; these elements include the firm's suppliers, competitors, marketing intermediaries, customers and publics. See Macro-environment. Micromarkets - markets in which the volumes of demand are relatively small owing to the fragmentation or splintering of mass markets; markets in which there is great diversity in the needs and wants of customers. See Mass Marketing. Micromarketing - the study of marketing decision-making from the perspective of an individual firm or organisation. See Macromarketing. Microsales Analysis - the analysis of the sales performance of an organisation during a particular accounting period by close examination of the work of individual representatives, or of specific products, regions, territories, etc, which failed to achieve the expected results. Microscheduling (of Advertising Expenditure) - the allocating of the total expenditure on advertising within a short period in order to obtain maximum impact. Microsegmentation - the division of a market into smaller groups of customers on the basis of more narrowly defined needs and wants, after having already divided or segmented it on the basis of broadly defined needs and wants. See Market Segmentation; Microsegmentation. Middle-of-the-Roaders - firms in a market which do not pursue a clear marketing strategy. Middleman - an independent marketing intermediary; an agent, wholesaler, retailer, etc. See Marketing Channels; Marketing Intermediaries. Middleman's Brand - see Private Brand. Minor Decisions Close - see Minor Points Close. Minor Points Close - a closing technique in which a salesperson attempts to get the buyer to agree to the value or usefulness of various smaller attributes and features of a product so that it will be easier to get a favourable response to the bigger decision - to purchase the product. Mission - see Corporate Mission. Mission Statement - see Corporate Mission Statement. Missionary Selling - selling in which the salesperson's role is to inform an individual with the power to influence others to buy a product, rather than to make a direct sale to that person; a missionary salesperson is also known as a Detailer. MkIS - abbrev. Marketing Information System. Mock Purchase - a tactic in which a person poses as a customer, usually to obtain information about a competitor's product or plans. Model - a set of variables and their interrelationships which are designed to represent some some real system or process. See Macromodel; Microanalytical Model. Model Bank - a variety of mathematic models used in a marketing information system to simulate real-life situations to assist in decision making. Modes of Transportation - the range of methods available for the shipment of goods - air, rail, road, sea, pipeline, etc. Modified Rebuy - a buying situation in which an individual or organisation buys goods that have been purchased previously but changes either the supplier or some other element of the previous order. See Buy Classes; New Task Buying; Straight Rebuy. Monadic Rating - a method for measuring consumer preferences in which potential purchasers are asked to rate their liking for each of a certain number of products on a scale; that is, on a seven point scale Product A may be rated as 6, Product B as 4, and Product C as 1. The method allows researchers not only to derive the individual's preference order, but also to know the qualitative levels of their preferences and the approximate distance between their preferences. Money-Based Competitors - other organisations offering products on which a company's potential customers might spend their money. See Competitors; Product-Based Competitors. Monitoring Time - part of the non-monetary price a consumer pays for a product; the time it takes individual to work out that a particular product item needs to be replenished. See Non-Monetary Price; Time Prices. Monopolistic Competition - a market situation in which there are many sellers and many buyers of products which can be differentiated on price and other features. See Oligopolistic Competition; Pure Competition; Pure Monopoly. Monopoly - a market situation in which there is only one seller. Monopsony - a market situation in which there is only one buyer. Moral Pricing - a pricing method used where the product is socially or politically sensitive and costs are difficult to identify. Motivation - that which provides the inner drive for a person to act. Motive - an inner state directing a person towards the satisfaction of a need. See Learning Process. Movie Tie-Ins - a promotional strategy in which a payment is made to a movie company in return for prominent featuring of a particular product in a forthcoming feature film. See Entertainment Marketing; Promotional Partnership.. Moving Average - a forecasting method using the average volume achieved in several recent sales periods to predict the volume likely to be sold in the next period. MRO Supplies - abbrev. Maintenance, Repair and Operating supplies. MRSA - abbrev. Market Research Society of Australia. Multi-Channel Marketing System - a system in which a producer uses more that one channel of distribution; commonly, producers who use multichannel marketing systems operate their own retail stores as well as sell through other wholesalers and retailers. Multichannel retailers are also called Merchandising Conglomerates. Multibrand Strategy - the use of more than one brand within a product category in order to counteract brand switching and to increase shelf space opportunities. Multichotomous Question - a closed-ended question in a marketing research questionnaire in which a respondent must choose one response from two or more possible alternatives. See Dichotomous Question. Multidimensional Scaling - a multivariate statistical technique concerned mainly with the relationships, differences, similarities, interaction, substitutability, etc. among behavioural data. Multiform Corporations - highly diversified conglomerates with many unrelated businesses. Multilevel In-Depth Selling - a tactic used by selling organisations where the buying centre of a large and important company includes many participants; the selling team spends maximum time with company personnel, attempting to reach as many as possible of the decision participants at all levels. Multilevel Marketing - a form of direct selling in which distributors of a product attempt to locate and sell to end-users and to others who will become distributors. Multimodal Transportation - some combination of rail, sea, road, air and pipeline services for the shipment of goods. Multinational Corporation - an organisation operating in several countries, often having a substantial share of their total assets, sales, and labour force in foreign subsidiaries. Multiple Channel System - the use of more than one channel of distribution to sell a product, eg. direct mail, direct to major retailers, through wholesalers to smaller retailers, etc. Multiple Exchanges - a term used in non-profit marketing in reference to the fact that non-profit organisations must deal with donors in receiving funds and with their clients in allocating them. Multiple Marketing Channels - more than one distribution channel serving either a single market or different target markets. See Multi-Channel Marketing System. Multiple Niching - a strategy adopted by a company operating simultaneously in more than one market niche. See Market Niche; Single Niching. Multiple Packaging - the practice of placing several units of a product (chocolate bars, soups, yogurt, etc) in one container when offering them for sale in order to increase total sales, to help introduce a new product or to win consumer acceptance. Multiple Pricing - see Flexible Pricing. Multiple Publics - a term used in non-profit marketing in reference to the fact that non-profit organisations must market themselves to their donors as well as to their clients; each target requires a different marketing approach. Multiple Segmentation Approach - targeting a number of distinct segments in the same market and developing a separate marketing mix for each. Multiple Sourcing - buying supplies from several vendors so that the risk of any one source being unable to supply is minimised. Multiple Unit Pricing - offering a lower price per unit for the purchase of two or more products of the same type when bought together than when units are bought singly. Multiple Zone Pricing - see See Delivered Pricing; Zone Pricing. Mummy Dust - a slang term referring to the ingredients, parts or accessories that manufacturers sometimes add to their products to enhance them, but for which no scientific basis can be found; also referred to as Whiffle Dust.